​Texas judge delays Obama admin request to unblock immigration orders

The Texas judge who placed an injunction against President Barack Obama’s controversial executive orders on immigration dismissed a request by the White House to stay his order while the situation unfolds in court.

US District Court Judge
Andrew Hanen saidhe would not rule just yet on a
request to unblock his order against President Obama's
immigration plan. As justification, he
referredto
allegations that the White House misled Texas and 25 other states
that filed a lawsuit against the executive orders.

Last week, the Justice
Department told the judge that it had granted approximately
100,000 undocumented immigrants three-year work permits between
November 24 and February 16, when the executive orders were
blocked by Hanen.According to the states, however,
the federal government said it was not going to start acting on
Obama’s orders until February 2015.

For its part, the government stated that the immigrants in
question did qualify for the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals program (DACA), which was not stopped by Hanen’s order.
Under the 2012 plan, though, those who qualified would be granted
two-year permits, not three.

On Monday, Hanen did not reject the Obama administration’s
request outright, but stated that he will make no further ruling
on the case until after a hearing scheduled for March 19.

"Due to the seriousness of the matters discussed therein, the
Court will not rule on any other pending motions until it is
clear that these matters, if true, do not impact the pending
matters or any rulings previously made by this Court," he
wrote in his order.

Hanen also called on the government to be “prepared to fully
explain to this Court all of the matters addressed in and
circumstances surrounding” the issue.

Back in February, Hanen ruled that President Obama went beyond
his authority in allowing some four million immigrants the
ability to avoid deportation.

“The [Department of Homeland Security] was not given any
‘discretion by law’ to give 4.3 million removable aliens what the
DHS itself labels as ‘legal presence,’” he wrote. “In
fact, the law mandates that these illegally-present individuals
be removed. The DHS has adopted a new rule that substantially
changes both the status and employability of millions. These
changes go beyond mere enforcement or even non-enforcement of
this nation’s immigration scheme.”

As the courtroom battle drags on, 12 states and the District of
Columbia are filing requests in support of the administration’s
action. The White House has said it believes the courts will
eventually rule in its favor, and stated the president acted
within his authority.